Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Government has not extended the pandemic unemployment payment to April because it is going to cut it to the level that effectively makes it the same as the jobseeker’s allowance. It is cutting the income support payment for people who would like to return to work. The fact the numbers on the PUP have steadily come down in line with the restrictions affecting their particular sectors of the economy or industry shows that people who are on the PUP do not want to be unemployed. They are unemployed because of public health restrictions impacting on their particular sectors, robbing them of their ability to work at all or to earn a viable income. It is not fair to pull the rug from under their feet. It amounts to effective punishment of people who would like to return to work but cannot, or if they do return, will plunge themselves into poverty because they can only earn a fraction of what they previously earned. Taxi drivers on the road are earning 70% to 80% less than they were earning pre-pandemic. It is not fair to punish them. They need support.

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